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ADDRESS 


TO 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVINITY. 


/ 

BY  REV.   JOHN  BROWX, 

Late  Minister  of  the  Gospel   in   Haddington,  Scotland. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  "  Address  to  Students  of  Divinity," 
is  prefixed  to  "  Brown's  Compendious  View  of  Natural 
and  Revealed  Religion."  We  have  often  regretted  that 
this  truly  admirable  Address  was  so  little  handled  or 
known  by  Students  of  Divinity  in  this  country.  It  is 
now  offered  to  the  youth  of  America  who  are  looking  to 
the  sacred  office,  in  manual  form,  with  an  earnest  re- 
commendation of  it  to  their  prayerful  and  repeated  pe- 
rusal. 

The  local  and  ecclesiastical  allusions,  though  not 
strictly  appropriate,  are  yet  retained,  as  both  highly 
interesting  in  themselves,  and  as  necessary  to  preserve 
the  connection  and  cntireness  of  a  production,  of  which 
not  one  word  ought  to  be  lost. 

THE  EDITOR. 


ADDRESS, 


BIY   DEAR   PUPILS, 

For  my  assistance  in  instructing-  you,  this  Compendi- 
ous Vieiu  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  was  formed. 
To  gratify  a  number  of  you,  it  is  now  published.  Being 
formed,  not  to  make  you  read,  but  to  make  you  think 
muck,  it  must  now  appear  dry  and  meagre,  as  stripped  of 
its  additional  remarks ;  and  no  doubt  some  of  its  expres- 
sions admit  of  a  sense  which  I  never  intended.  To 
render  you  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  readily  able  to 
support  the  several  articles  of  our  holy  religion  by  the 
self  evidencing  and  conscience-commanding  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  accustomed  to  express  the  things 
of  God  in  his  own  language,  multitudes  of  texts  are 
ordinarily  quoted,  which  I  have  laboured  to  lodge  in 
your  memories.  To  manifest  the  extensive  connexion 
of  divine  truths,  some  leading  articles  relative  to  the 
perfections  of  God,  the  person  of  Christ,  &c.  are  traced 
through  many  others,  in  a  manner  which  will  perhaps 
be  accounted  a  digression.  Few  insignificant,  local,  or 
dormant  controversies  have  been  brought  on  the  field : 
Nor,  that  I  know,  have  the  enemies  of  the  truth  been 
unfairly  represented  or  indiscreetly  answered,  in  others. 
The  deceit  or  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  reghteous- 
ness  of  God. 


102  ADDRESS  TO 

While  I  have  been  occupied  in  instructing  you,  your 
consciences  must  bear  me  witness,  that  my  principal 
concern  was  to  impress  your  minds  with  the  great 
things  of  God.  Now,  when  I  am  gradually  stepping 
into  the  eternal  state,  to  appear  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ,  permit  me  to  beseech  you,  as  you  wish  to  pro- 
mote His  honour,  and  the  eternal  salvation  of  your  own 
and  your  hearers'  souls, 

1.'  See  that  ye  be  real  Christians  yourselves?.  I  now 
more  and  more  see,  that  nothing  less  than  real,  real 
Christianity,  is  fit  to  die  with,  and  make  an  appearance 
before  God.  Are  ye  then  indeed  born  again,  born  from 
above,  born  of  the  Spirit?  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
good  works ! — new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  having  all 
old  things  passed  away,  and  all  things  become  new  ?  Are 
ye  indeed  the  circumcision  which  worship  God  in  the 
Spirit,  habitually  reading,  meditating,  praying,  preach- 
ing, conversing  with  your  hearts,  under  the  influence  of 
the  Holy  Ghost?  Have  you  no  confidence  in  the  flesh, 
no  confidence  in  your  self-righteousness,  your  learning, 
your  address,  your  care  and  diligence,  your  gifts,  and 
graces; — but  being  emptied  of  self  in  every  form,  arc 
poor  in  spirit,  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  and  the 
least  of  all  God's  mercies  ;  nay,  the  very  chief  of  sinners 
in  your  own  sight  ?  Has  it  pleased  God  to  reveal  his 
Son  in  you  ?  and  to  instruct  5^ou  with  a  strong  hand,  to 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  know- 
ledge of  Christ  Jesus  as  your  Lord,  and  to  count  them 
but  dung,  that  you  may  win  him,  and  be  found  in  him, 
not  having  your  own  righteousness,  but  the  righteous- 


STUDENTS    OF    DIVINITY.  103 

ness  which  is  of  God  by  faith,— and  to  know  the  power 
of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  his  suffer- 
ings,— and  to  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
the  hig-h  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  John  iii.  3,  5,  6. 
Eph.  ii.  10.  2  Cor.  V.  17.  Gal.  vi.  15.  Phil.  iii.  3. 
Matt.  V.  3.  xvi.  24.  Eph.  iii.  8.  Gen.  xxxii.  10.  1  Tim. 
i.  15.  Gal.  i.  15,  16.  Phil.  iii.  7—14.  If  you  be,  or 
become  either  graceless  preachers  or  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  how  terrible  is  your  condition !  If  you  open 
your  Bible,  the  sentence  of  your  redoubled  damnation 
flashes  into  your  conscience  from  every  page.  When 
you  compose  your  sermon,  you  but  draw  up  a  tremen- 
dous indictment  against  yourselves.  If  you  argue 
against,  or  reprove  other  men's  sins,  you  but  aggravate 
your  own.  When  you  publish  the  holy  law  of  God,  you 
but  add  to  your  rebellion  against  it,  and  make  it  an 
awful  witness  against  your  treacherous  dissimulation. 
If  you  announce  its  threatenings,  and  mention  hell  with 
all  its  insupportable  torments,  you  but  enfeoff  yourselves 
in  it,  and  serve  yourselves  heirs  to  it  as  the  inheritance 
appointed  you  by  the  Almighty.  When  you  speak  of 
Christ  and  his  excellencies,  fulness,  love,  and  labours,  it 
is  but  to  trample  him  under  your  feet.  If  you  take 
his  covenant  and  Gospel  into  your  mouth,  it  is  but  to 
profane  them,  and  cast  them  forth  to  be  trodden  under 
foot  of  men.  If  you  talk  of  spiritual  experiences,  you 
but  do  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace.  When  you  com- 
mend  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
invite  sinners  to  new-covenant  fellowship  with  them,  you 
but  treacherously  stab  them  under  the  fifth  rib,  betray 
I 


104  ADDRESS  TO 

them  with  a  kiss,  and  from  your  heart  cry,  This  is  the 
heir,  the  God,  come  let  us  kill  him.  While  you  hold  up 
the  glass  of  God's  law  or  Gospel  to  others,  you  turn  its 
back  to  yourselves.  The  Gospel,  which  ye  preach  to 
others,  is  hid, — is  a  savour  of  death  unto  death  to  you, 
the  vail  remaining  on  your  hearts,  and  the  god  of  this 
world  having  blinded  your  minds.  Without  the  saving, 
the  heart-transforming  knowledge  of  Christ  and  him 
crucified,  all  your  knowledge  is  but  an  accursed  puffer 
up,  and  the  murderer  of  your  own  souls.  And  unless 
the  grace  of  God  make  an  uncommon  stretch  to  save 
you,  how  desperate  is  your  condition !  Perhaps  no  per- 
son under  heaven  bids  more  unlikely  to  be  saved,  than  a 
graceless  {Seceding)  minister; — his  conscience  is  so  over- 
charged with  guilt,  so  seared  as  with  an  hot  iron,  and 
his  heart  so  hardened  by  the  abuse  of  the  Gospel. — 
Alas !  my  dear  pupils,  must  all  my  instructions,  all  the 
strivings  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  all  your  reading,  all  your 
meditations,  all  your  sermons,  all  your  evangelical  prin- 
ciples, all  your  professions,  all  your  prayers,  as  traps 
and  snares,  take  and  bind  any  of  you,  hand  and  foot, 
that,  as  unprofitable  servants,  you  may  be  cast  into  utter 
darkness,  with  all  the  contents  of  your  Bible  and  other 
books, — all  your  gifts  and  apparent-like  graces,  as  it 
were,  inlaid  in  your  conscience,  that,  like  fuel,  or  oil, 
they  may  forever  feed  the  flames  of  God's  wrath  upon 
your  souls !  After  being  set  for  a  time  at  the  gate  of 
heaven,  to  point  others  into  it, — after  prophesying  in 
Christ's  name,  and  wasting  yourselves  to  show  others 
the  way  of  salvation,  and  to  light  up  the  friends  of  our 


STUDENTS    OF    DIVINITY.  105 

Redeemer  lo  their  heavenly  rest, — must  your  own  lamp 
go  out  in  everlasting  darkness,  and  ye  be  bidden,  De- 
part  from  vie,  I  never  knew  you,  ye  workers  of  iniquity  ? 
— Must  I, — must  all  the  churches  behold  you  at  last 
brought  forth  and  condemned  as  arch-traitors  to  our 
Redeemer?  Must  you,  in  the  most  tremendous  manner, 
forever  sink  into  the  bottomless  pit,  under  the  weight  of 
the  blood  of  the  great  God  our  Saviour, — under  the 
weight  of  murdered  truths,  murdered  convictions,  mur- 
dered gifts,  murdered  ministrations  of  the  Gospel,  and 
murdered  souls  of  men ! 

2.  Ponder  much,  as  before  God,  what  proper  furni- 
ture you  have  for  the  ministerial  work,  and  labour  to 
increase  it.  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.  Has 
Jesus  bestowed  on  you  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  What  distinct 
knowledge  have  you  of  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  ? 
What  aptness  have  you  to  teach,  bringing  out  of  the 
good  treasure  of  your  own  heart  things  new  and  old ! 
What  ability  to  make  the  deep  mysteries  of  the  Gospel 
plain  to  persons  of  weak  capacities,  and  to  represent 
things  delightful  or  terrible  in  a  proper  and  affecting 
manner  ?  What  proper  quickness  in  conceiving  divine 
things;  and  what  rooted  inclination  to  study  them,  as 
persons  devoted  to  matters  of  infinite  importance?  What 
peculiar  fitness  have  you  for  the  pulpit,  qualifying  you,  in 
a  plain,  serious,  orderly,  and  earnest  manner,  to  screw 
the  truths  of  God  into  the  consciences  of  your  hearers? 
With  what  stock  of  self-experienced  truths  and  texts  of 
inspiration  did,  or  do  you  enter  on  the  ministerial  work? 
Of  what  truths,  relative  to  the  law  of  God, — or  relative 


106  ADDRESS    TO 

to  sin,  Satan,  or  the  desertions  and  terrors  of  God,  has 
your  soul  not  only  seen  the  evidence,  but  felt  the  power  ? 
What  declarations,  promises,  offers,  and  invitations  of 
the  glorious  Gospel,  have  ye,  with  joy  and  rejoicing  of 
heart,  found  and  eaten,  and  therein  tasted  and  seen  that 
God  is  good  ?  Of  what  inspired  truths  and  texts  can 
you  say,  Even  so  we  have  believed,  and  therefore  we 
speak:  what  we  have  seen  and  heard  with  the  Father, 
and  tasted  and  handled  of  the  word  of  life,  that  we  de- 
clare unto  you.  Thrice  happy  preacher,  whose  deeply- 
experienced  heart  is,  next  to  his  Bible,  his  principal 
note-book !  John  xx.  22.  Matt.  xiii.  22. 12.  52.  1  Tim. 
iii.  2.  Tit.  i.  9.  2  Tim.  ii.  2.  Isa.  1.  4.  xlix.  2.  Jer. 
XV.  16.    2  Cor.  iv.  13.     1  John  i.  1 — 3.     John  viii.  34. 

3.  Take  heed  that  your  call  from  Christ  and  his 
Spirit  to  your  ministerial  work,  be  not  only  real  but 
EVIDENT.  Without  this  you  can  neither  be  duly  excited 
or  encouraged  to  your  work ;  nor  hope,  nor  pray  for 
divine  success  in  it ;  nor  bear  up  aright  under  the  diffi- 
culties you  must  encounter,  if  you  attempt  to  be  faithful. 
If  you  run  unsent  b}'  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Spirit,  not- 
withstanding the  utmost  external  regularity  in  your 
license,  call,  and  ordination,  you,  in  the  whole  of  your 
ministrations,  must  act  the  part  of  a  sacriligious  thief 
and  robber,  a  pretended  and  treacherous  ambassador  for 
Christ  and  his  Father,  and  a  murderer  of  men's  souls, 
not  profiting  them  at  all.  What  direction, — what  sup- 
port,— what  assistance, — what  encouragement, — what 
reward  can  you  then  expect?  Ponder,  therefore,  as  be- 
fore  God:  Have  you  taken  this  honour  to  yourselves?  or, 


STUDENTS    OF    DIVINITY.  107 

Were  ye  called  of  God  as  was  Aaron  ?  Has  Jesus  Christ 
sent  you  to  preach  tJie  Gospel,  and  laid  upon  you  a  de- 
lightful and  awful  necessity  to  preach  it?  While  he 
powerfully  determined  you  to  follow  providence,  and 
avoid  every  selfish  and  irregular  step  towards  entrance 
into  the  office  as  a  mean  of  eating  a  piece  of  bread,  or 
enjoying  carnal  ease  or  honour,  did  he  breathe  on  you, 
and  cause  you  to  receive  the  Holy  Ghost, — filling  you 
with  deep  compassion  to  the  perishing  souls  of  men,  and  a 
deep  sense  of  your  unfitness  for  such  arduous  work,  and 
fervent  desire,  that  if  the  Lord  were  willing  to  use  you 
as  instruments  of  winning  souls,  he  would  sanctify  you, 
and  make  you  meet  for  his  work  ? — Perhaps,  providen- 
tially  shut  out  from  other  callings  to  which  you  or  your 
parents  inclined,  did  you,  in  your  education,  go  up  bound 
in  the  Spirit  by  the  love  of  Christ  burning  in  your 
hearts,  and  constraining  you  cheerfully  to  surrender 
yourselves  to  poverty,  reproach,  and  hatred  of  men,  for 
promoting  his  name  and  honour,  and  the  salvation  of 
men  in  the  world? — What  oracles  of  God,  powerfully 
impressed  on  your  soul,  have  directed  and  encouraged 
you  to  this  work  ? — Know  you  in  what  form  Jesus  Christ 
gave  you  your  commission  ?  Whether  to  open  the  eyes 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God, — that  they  may 
receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  an  inheritance  among 
them  who  are  sanctified  by  faith  in  him: — Or  to  go  make 
the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  their  ears  heavy,  and  to  shut 
their  eyes  ?  Jer.  xxiii.  21,  22.  32.  Isa.  xlix.  1,  2.  Jer. 
i.  Ezek.  ii.  iii.  xxxiii.  Mat.  x.  Luke  vi.  x.  John  x. 
I  2 


108  ADDRESS     TO 

Acts  i.     Heb.  v.  4.    Rom.  x.  15.     1  Cor.  i.  17.  ix.  16. 
Acts  xxvi.  17,  18.     Isa.  vi.  8,  9. 

4.  See  that  your  end  in  entering  into,  or  executing 
your  office,  be  single  and  disinterested.  Dare  you  ap- 
peal to  him,  whose  eyes  are  as  ajlame  ofjire,  and  who 
searcheth  the  hearts  and  trieth  the  reins,  to  give  to  every 
man  according  to  his  works,  that  you  never  inclined  to  be 
put  into  the  priest's  office,  that  you  might  eat  a  piece  of 
bread,  and  look  every  one  for  his  own  gain  from  his  quarter; 
that  ye  seek  not  great  things  for  yourselves;  that  ye  covet 
no  man's  silver,  gold,  or  apparel;  that  ye  seek  not  men's 
property,  but  themselves^  that  you  may  win  them  to  Christ 
for  their  eternal  welfare ;  that  ye  seek  not  your  own  hon- 
our,  ease,  or  temporal  advantage,  but  the  things  of  Christ 
and  his  people ;  that  ye  seek  not  honour  or  glory  of  men, 
but  the  honour  of  Christ  or  his  Father,  in  the  eternal  sal- 
vation of  souls ;  and  have  determined  to  prosecute  this 
end  through  whatever  distress  or  danger  the  Lord  may 
be  pleased  to  lay  in  your  way  ?  Jer.  xlv.  5.  1  Sam.  xii.  3. 
Acts  XX.  33.  Isa.  Ivi.  11.  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  1  Cor.  ix.  12,  16. 
2  Cor.  vii.  2.  xi.  9.  xii.  13, 14.  vi.  4—19.  Phil.  ii.  21.  1 
Thess.  ii.  4—9.     John  vii.  18. 

5.  See  that  your  minds  be  deeply  impressed  with  the 
NATURE,  EXTENT,  and  IMPORTANCE  of  your  ministerial 
work — That  therein  it  is  required  of  you,  as  ambassa- 
dors for  Christ,  as  stewards  of  the  mysteries  and  mani- 
fold grace  of  God, — to  be  faithful; — to  serve  the  Lord 
with  your  spirit,  and  with  much  humility,  in  the  Gospel 
of  his  Son ; — to  testify  repentance  towards  God,  and 
faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  not  keeping  back 


STUDENTS    OF    DIVINITY.  109 

or  shunning  to  declare  every  part  of  the  counsel  of  God, 
or  any  profitable  instruction,  reproof,  or  encouragement; 
and  not  moved  with  any  reproach,  persecution,  hunger, 
or  nakedness  ; — to  be  ready  not  only  to  be  bound,  but  to 
die  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  order  to  finish 
your  course  with  joy.  Bearing  with  the  infirmities  of 
the  weak,  and  striving  together  in  prayer,  that  the  word 
of  the  Lord  m.ay  have  free  course  and  be  glorified,  and 
your  messages  provided  by  God,  and  made  acceptable  to 
your  hearers,  you  must  labour  with  much  fear  and 
trembling,  determined  to  know,  to  glory  in,  and  make 
known,  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified, — 
preaching  the  Gospel,  not  vnth  enticing  words  of  man's 
wisdom,  as  men-pleasers,  but  with  great  plainness  of 
speech,  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power, — 
speaking  the  things  which  arc  freely  given  you  by  God, 
not  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teaches,  but  in 
words  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teaches,  comparing  spiritual 
things  wdth  spiritual, — as  having  the  mind  of  Christ, 
always  triumphing  in  Him, — and  making  manifest  the 
savour  of  the  knowledge  of  him  in  every  place,  that  you 
may  be  a  sweet  savour  of  Christ  in  them  who  are  saved, 
and  in  them  vs^ho  perish ; — as  of  sincerity,  as  of  God,  in 
the  sight  of  God,  speaking  in  Christ,  and  through  the 
mercy  of  God,  not  fainting,  but  renouncing  the  hidden 
things  of  dishonesty; — not  walking  in  craftiness,  nor 
handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfully,  or  corrupting  the 
truth,  but  manifesting  the  truth  to  every  man's  con- 
science, as  in  the  sight  of  God ; — not  preaching  your- 
selves, but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  and  yourselves  ser- 


110  ADDRESS  TO 

vants  to  the  Church  for  his  sake,  alvvay  bearing  about 
his  dying,  that  his  life  may  be  manifested  in  you ; — and 
knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  and  deeply  impressed 
with  the  account  which  you  and  your  hearers  must  give 
to  liim  of  your  whole  conduct  in  the  day  of  judgment, — 
awed  by  his  infinite  authority,  constrained  and  inflamed 
by  His  love,  you  must  persuade  men,  beseeching  them 
to  be  recenciled  unto  God,  and  making  yourselves  mani- 
fest to  God  and  to  tlieir  conscience, — and,  as  their  edifi- 
cation requires,  changing  your  voice,  and  turning  your- 
selves every  way,  and  becoming  all  things  to  all  men, 
in  order  to  gain  them  to  Christ, — jealous  over  them  with 
a  godly  jealousy;  in  order  to  espouse  them  to  him  as 
chaste  virgins, — travailing  in  birth,  till  he  be  formed  in 
their  hearts.  You  must  take  heed  to  your  ministry 
which  you  have  received  in  the  Lord,  that  you  may 
fulfil  it: — stir  up  the  gifts  which  were  given  you, — 
give  yourselves  wholly  to  reading,  exhortation,  and 
doctrine; — and  persevcringly  take  heed  to  yourselves 
and  to  the  doctrine  which  you  preach,  that  you  may 
serve  yourselves  and  them  that  hear  you ; — watching 
for  their  souls,  as  they  who  do,  and  must  give  an  ac- 
count for  them  to  God, — rightly  dividing  the  word 
of  truth,  and  giving  every  man  his  portion  in  due 
season :  faithfully  warning  every  man  with  tears,  night 
and  day,  teaching  every  man,  particularly  young  ones, 
and  labouring  to  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ 
Jesus ; — and  warring,  not  after  the  flesJi,  nor  with  car- 
nal weapons,  but  with  such  as  are  mighty  through 
God  to  the   pulling   down   of  strong   holds   and  cast- 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVINITY.  Ill 

ing  down  imaginations,  and  subduing  every  thought 
and  affection  to  the  obedience  of  Christ.  Having  Him 
for  the  end  of  your  conversation,  and  holding  fast  the 
form  of  sound  words,  in  faith  in  and  love  to  him, 
— not  entangling  yourselves  with  the  affairs  of  this 
life,  nor  ashamed  of  the  Lord,  or  of  his  cause  or  prison- 
ers, but  ready  to  endure  hardships  as  good  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  endure  all  things  for  the  elect's 
sake,  that  they  may  obtain  salvation  with  eternal  glory; 
— ye  must  go  forth  without  the  camp,  bearing  his  re- 
proach, and,  exposed  as  spectacles  of  sufferings  to  angels 
and  men,  must  not  faint  under  your  tribulations,  but 
feed  the  flock  of  God  which  he  has  purchased  with  his 
own  blood,  and  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made 
you  overseers, — preaching  the  word  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  reproving,  rebuking,  and  exhorting  with  all 
long-suffering  and  doctrine, — taking  the  oversight  of 
your  people,  not  by  constraint,  but  willingly,  not  for 
filthy  lucre  or  worldly  gain,  or  larger  stipends,  but  of  a 
ready  mind, — neither  as  being  lords  over  God's  heritage, 
but  as  examples  to  the  flock, — exercising  yourselves  to 
have  a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  God  and  to- 
wards man, — having  a  good  conscience,  willing  in  all 
things  to  live  honestly, — exercised  to  godliness, — kindly 
affectioned,  disinterested,  holy,  just  and  unblameable, — 
prudent  examples  of  the  believers,  in  conversation,  in 
charity,  in  faith,  and  purity, — fleeing  youthful  lusts,  and 
following  after  righteousness,  peace,  faith,  charity, — not 
striving,  but  being  gentle  unto  all  men, — in  meekness, 
instructing  them  who  oppose  themselves,  avoiding  foolish 


112  ADDRESS  TO 

and  unlearned  questions,  and  old  wives'  fables, — fleeing 
from  perverse  disputings  and  worldly-mindedness,  as 
most  dangerous  snares;  and  following  after  righteous- 
ness, godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meekness; — fighting 
the  good  fight  of  faith,  and  laying  hold  on  eternal  life ; — 
keeping  your  trust  of  Gospel  truth  and  ministerial  office, 
and,  without  partiality  or  precipitancy,  committing  the 
same  to  faithful  men,  who  may  be  able  to  teach  others ; 
— and,  in  fine,  faithfully  labouring,  in  the  Lord,  to  try, 
and  confute,  and  censure  false  teachers,  publicly  rebuke 
or  excommunicate  open  transgressors,  restore  such  as 
have  been  overtaken  in  a  fault  in  the  spirit  of  meekness, 
— and  having  compassion  on  them,  to  pull  them  out  of 
the  fire,  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh, 
and  never  conniving  at,  or  partaking  with  any  in  their 
sins.     Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?     May  your 

sufficiency  be  of  God ;    and  as  your  days  are,  so  may 

your  strength  be.  Ezek.  ii.  7.  iii.  9. 17 — 2] .  xxxiii.  7 — 9. 

Isa,  Iviii.  1.     Jer.  i.  17, 18.  xv.  19,  20.   Mic.  iii.  8.    Mai. 

ii.  6,  7.    Matth.  x.  16—39.  xix.  28,  29.  xx.  25—28.  xxiii. 

3—12.  xxiv.  42—51.  xxviii.  18—20.    Acts  xviii.  24—28. 

XX.  18—35,  xxiv.  16.  xxvi.  16—23,  1  Cor.  ii.  1—5,  9, 12, 

13.  i. — V.  ix.  xii. — xiv.    2  Cor.  ii. — vi.  x. — xiii.     Rom.  i. 

9,  16.  ix.  1,  2.  X.  1.  xii.  xv.    Gal.  i.  8—16.  iv.  19.    Eph. 

iii.  7,  8,  9.  iv.  11—15.  vi.  19,  20.  Col.  iv.  7,  17.  i.  23—29. 

ii.  1,  2.     1  Thess.  ii.  iii.  v.  12.     1  Tim.  iii.— vi.    2  Tim. 

i— iii.    Heb.  xiii.  7,  17,  18.     1  Pet.  iv.  10, 11.  v.  1—4. 

Jude  22,  23.     Rev.  ii.  iii.  xi.  3—7.  xiv.  6—11. 

6.  See  that  ye  take  heed  to  your  spirits  that  ye  deal 

not  TREACHEROUSLY  with  the  Lord.     In  approaching  to 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVINITY.  113 

or  executing  the  ministerial  office,  keep  your  hearts 
with  all  diligence ;  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  eternal 
life,  or  death,  to  yourselves  and  others.  Building  up 
yourselves  in  your  most  holy  faith,  and  praying  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,  keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of  God,  looking 
for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life. 
If  you  do  not  ardently  love  Christ,  how  can  yon  faith- 
fulhj  and  diligently  feed  his  lambs — his  sheep  ?  Alas  ! 
how  many  precious  sermons,  exhortations,  and  instruc- 
tions are  quite  marred  and  poisoned  by  coming  through 
the  cold,  carnal,  and  careless  heart  of  the  preacher,  and 
being  attended  with  his  imprudent,  untender,  and  luke- 
warm  life  ?  If  you  have  not  a  deep-felt  experience  of 
the  terrors  of  the  Lord,— of  the  bitterness  of  sin,  vanity 
of  this  world,  and  importance  of  eternity, — and  of  the 
conscience-quieting  and  heart-captivating  virtue  of 
Jesus'  bleeding  love,  how  can  you  be  duly  serious  and 
hearty  in  preaching  the  gospel  ?  If,  all  influenced  by  a 
predominate  love  to  Christ,  your  heart  be  not  fixed  on 
everlasting  things,  and  powerfully  animated  to  an  eager 
following  of  peace  and  holiness,  how  can  you,  without 
the  most  abominable  treachery,  declare  to  men  their 
chief  happiness,  and  the  true  method  of  obtaining  it? 
If  your  graces  be  not  kept  lively,  your  loins  girt,  and 
your  lamps  burning,  all  enkindled  by  the  heart-con- 
straining  love  of  Christ,  how  cold,  how  carnal,  and 
blasted  must  your  sacred  ministrations  be  ?  If  your 
work,  as  ambassadors  of  Christ,  be  to  transact  matters 
of  everlasting  importance  between  an  infinite  God,  and 
immortal,  but  perishing,  souls  of  men ;  if  the  honours 


114  ADDRESS  TO 

and  privileges  of  it  be  so  invaluable,  what  inexpressible 
need  have  you  of  habitual  dependence  on  Christ  by  a 
lively  faith?  What  self-denial,  what  ardent  love  to 
Christ  and  his  Father,  what  disinterested  regard  to  his 
honour,  what  compassion  to  souls,  what  prudence,  what 
faithfulness  and  diligence,  what  humility  and  holy  zeal, 
what  spirituality  of  mind  and  conversation,  what  order, 
what  plainness,  what  fervour,  what  just  temperature  of 
mildness  and  severity, — is  necessary  in  every  part  of 
it ! — If,  while  you  minister  in  holy  things,  your  lusts 
prevail  and  are  indulged,  you  have  less  of  real  or  lively 
Christianity  than  the  most  weak  and  uncircumspect 
saints  under  your  charge  ; — if  your  evil  heart  of  unbelief 
fearfully  carry  you  off  from  the  living  God,  and  you  can 
live  unconcerned  while  the  powerful  and  sanctifying 
presence  of  God  is  withheld  from  yourselves  or  your 
flocks, — how  sad  is  your  and  their  case  ! — If  your  in- 
dwelling pride  be  allowed  to  choose  your  company,  your 
dress,  your  victuals,  nay,  your  text,  your  subject,  your 
order,  your  language ; — if  it  be  allowed  to  indite  your 
thoughts,  and,  to  the  reproach  and  blasting  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ,  to  deck  your  sermon  with  tawdry  ornaments 
and  fancies,  as  if  it  were  a  stage-play,  to  blunt  and 
muffle  up  his  sharp  arrows  with  silken  smoothness  and 
swollen  bombast ; — if  it  be  allowed  to  kindle  your  fervour, 
and  form  your  looks,  your  tone,  your  action  ; — or  to  ren- 
der  you  enraptured  or  self-conceited,  because  of  subse- 
quent applause ; — or  sad  and  provoked,  because  your  la- 
bours are  contemned  ;  how  dreadful  is  your  danger  and 
that  of  your  hearers!     How    can  ministerial  labours, 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVlNITi\  115 

originating  in  pride,  spurred  on  by  the  fame  of  learning, 
diligence,  or  holiness,  hurt  the  interests  of  Satan,  from 
whose  influence  they  proceed  ?  If  pride  be  allowed  to 
cause  you  to  envy  or  wound  the  characters  of  such  as 
differ  from,  or  outshine  you,  or  to  make  you  reluctant  to 
Christian  reproof  from  your  inferiors,  how  fearful  is  your 
guilt  and  danger  !  Pride  indulged  is  no  more  consistent 
with  a  Christian  character,  than  drunkenness  and 
whoredom.  If  you  take  up  or  cleave  to  any  principle  or 
practice  in  religion,  in  the  way  of  factious  contention,  how 
abominable  to  God  is  the  "  sower  of  discord  among 
brethren  ?"  If  you  undervalue  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  are  not  afflicted  with  her  in 
all  her  afflictions,  how  cruel,  and  unchrist-like  your  con- 
duct! IfJ  in  justly  proving  your  opponents  deceivers 
and  blasphemers,  you,  by  your  angry  manner,  plead  the 
cause  of  the  devil,  will  God  accept  it  as  an  offering  at 
your  hands  ?  If  you  are  slothful  in  studying  or  declar- 
ing the  truths  of  Christ,  if,  to  save  labour  or  expense, 
you  are  inactive  or  averse  to  help  such  as  have  no  fixed 
ministrations,  or  to  contrive  or  prosecute  projects  for  ad- 
vancing the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  promoting  the  sal- 
vation of  men,  how  great  is  your  baseness,  how  dreadful 
your  hazard  !  Think,  as  before  God,  did  Jesus  Christ 
furnish  you  for,  and  put  you  into  the  ministry,  that  you 
might  idle  away,  or  prostitute  your  devoted  time,  tear 
his  Church,  conceal  or  mangle  his  truths,  betray  his  in- 
terests, or  starve  and  murder  the  souls  of  men  ?  Are 
not  your  people  the  "flock  of  God,  which,  he  pur- 
chased with  his  own  blood  ?"  Will  you  then  dare  to 
K 


116  ADDRESS  TO 

destroy  his  peculiar  property  and  portion,  and  attempt 
to  frustrate  the  end  of  his  death  ?  Did  Jesus  die  for 
men's  souls  ?  and  will  you  grudge  a  small  labour  or  ex- 
pense to  promote  his  honour  in  their  eternal  salvation  ? 
If  the  Son  of  God  was  crucified  for  men,  crucified  for 
you,  will  you  refuse,  through  his  Spirit,  to  crucify  your 
selfishness,  your  pride,  your  sloth,  your  worldly  and  co- 
vetous disposition,  in  order  to  save  yourselves,  and  them 
that  hear  you?  While  your  own  salvation,  and  the  sal- 
vation of  multitudes,  are  so  deeply  connected  with  your 
faithfulness  and  diligence,  while  the  powers  of  hell  and 
earth  so  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  your  work,  that, 
in  your  falls,  they  may  triumph  over  Christ,  your  Mas- 
ter, and  his  Church,  while  so  many  eyes,  of  God,  angels, 
and  men,  are  upon  you,  why  do  you  ever  think  or  speak 
of  eternal  things,  of  heaven  and  hell,  of  Jesus'  person, 
offices,  righteousness,  love,  and  free  salvation,  without 
the  most  serious  and  deep  impression  of  their  impor- 
tance ?  While  perhaps  you  preach  your  last  sermon, 
and  have  before  you,  and  on  every  hand  of  you,  hundreds 
or  scores  of  perishing  souls,  suspended  over  hell  by  the 
frail  thread  of  mortal  life,  not  knowing  what  a  day  or  an 
hour  may  bring  forth,  souls  already  in  the  hands  of  the 
devil,  and,  as  it  w^ere,  just  departing  to  be  with  him  in 
the  lake  which  burns  with  fire  and  brimstone,  souls  al- 
ready slain  by  the  gospel  of  our  salvation  blasted  and 
cursed  to  them  partly  by  your  means,  why  do  not  tears 
of  deep  concern  mingle  themselves  with  every  point  you 
study,  every  sentence  you  publish  in  the  name  of  Christ? 
When  multitudes  of  your  hearers,  some  of  them  never  to 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVINITY.  117 

hear  you  more,  and  just  leaping'  off  into  the  depths  of 
liell,  are,  in  respect  of  their  needs,  crying  with  an  ex- 
ceeding  bitter  cry,  "  Minister,  help,  help,  we  perish,  we 
utterly  perish,  pluck  the  brand  out  of  the  burning  fiery 
furnace, — why  spend  your  devoted  time  in  idle  visits,  un- 
edifying  converse,  useless  reading,  or  unnecessary  sleep  ? 
What,  if,  while  you  are  so  employed,  some  of  your  hear- 
ers drop  into  eternal  flames,  and  begin  their  everlasting 
cursing  of  you  for  not  doing  more  to  promote  their  sal- 
vation  ?  When  Jesus  arises  to  require  their  blood  at 
your  hand,  how  accursed  will  that  knoweldge  appear, 
which  was  not  improved  for  his  honour  who  bestowed 
it !  that  ease,  which  issued  in  the  damnation  of  multi- 
tudes !  that  conformity  to  the  world,  which  permitted, 
or  that  unedifying'  converse  which  encouraged  your 
hearers  to  sleep  into  hell  in  their  sins !  that  pride  or 
luxury  which  restrained  your  charity,  or  disgracefully 
plunged  you  into  debt !  Since,  my  dear  pupils,  all  the 
truths  of  God,  all  the  ordinances  and  privileges  of  his 
Church,  the  eternal  salvation  of  multitudes,  and  the  in- 
finitely precious  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Father, 
as  connected  with  ilie  present  and  future  ages  of  time, 
are  intrusted  to  you,  how  necessary,  that,  like  Jesus  your 
Master,  you  should  be  faithful  in  all  things  to  him  who 
appointed  you  !  If  you  do  the  work  of  our  Lord  deceit- 
fully, in  what  tremendous  manner  shall  your  parents 
who  devoted  and  educated  you  for  it,  your  teachers  who 
prepared  you  for  it,  the  seminaries  of  learning  in  which 
you  received  your  instruction,  the  years  which  you  spent 
m  your  studies,  all  the  gifts  which  were  bestowed  upon 


118  ADDRESS  TO 

you,  all  the  thoughts,  words,  and  works  of  God,  in  the 
redemption  of  men,  all  the  oracles,  commands,  promises, 
and  threatenings  of  God,  which  direct,  inculcate,  or  en- 
force your  duty,  all  the  examples  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
all  his  apostles,  prophets,  and  faithful  ministers,  all  the 
leaves  of  your  Bible,  all  the  books  of  your  closet,  all  the 
engagements  you  have  come  under,  all  the  sermons 
which  you  preach,  all  the  instructions  which  you  tender 
to  others,  all  the  discipline  which  you  exercise,  all  the 
maintenance  which  you  receive,  all  the  honours  which 
you  enjoy  or  expect,  all  the  testimonies  which  you  give 
against  the  negligence  of  parents,  masters,  ministers,  or 
magistrates,  all  the  vows  and  resolutions  which  you  have 
made  to  reform,  and  all  the  prayers  which  you  have 
presented  to  God  for  assistance  or  success,  rise  up  against 
you  as  witnesses,  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  ! 

7.  See  that  ye,  as  workmen  who  need  not  be  ashamed, 
earnestly  labour  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth,  ac- 
cording to  the  capacities,  necessities,  and  particular  oc- 
casions of  your  hearers,  giving  every  one  of  them  their 
portion  in  due  season.  Never  make  your  own  ease,  your 
inclination  or  honour,  but  the  need  of  souls,  and  the  glory 
of  Christ,  the  regulator  in  your  choice  of  subjects.  La- 
bour chiefly  on  the  principal  points  of  religion  :  To  bring 
down  the  fundamental  mysteries  of  the  gospel  to  the  ca- 
pacities of  your  hearers,  and  inculcate  on  their  con- 
sciences the  great  points  of  union  to  and  fellowship  with 
Christ,  regeneration,  justification,  and  sanctification ; 
these  will  require  all  your  grace,  learning,  and  labour. 
Never  aim  at  tickling  the  ears  or  pleasing  the  fancies  of 


STUDENTS  OF  DIVINITY.  119 

your  hearers,  but  at  convincing  their  consciences,  en- 
lightening their  minds,  attracting  their  affections,  and 
renewing  their  wills,  that  they  may  be  persuaded  and 
enabled  to  embrace  and  improve  Jesus  Christ  as  freely 
offered  to  them  in  the  gospel,  for  wisdom,  righteousness, 
sanctification,  and  redemption.  Labour  to  preach  the 
law  as  a  broken  covenant,  the  gospel  of  salvation,  and 
the  law  as  a  rule  of  life,  not  only  in  their  extensive  mat- 
ter, but  also  in  their  proper  order  and  connexion.  It  is 
only  when  they  are  properly  connected,  that  the  precious 
truths  of  God  appear  in  their  true  lustre  and  glory.  It  is 
at  your  infinite  hazard,  and  the  infinite  hazard  of  them 
that  hear  you,  if  you,  even  by  negligence,  either  blend 
or  put  asunder  that  law  and  gospel  which  Jesus  Christ 
has  so  delightfully  joined  together.  No  where  is  it  more 
necessary  to  take  heed,  than  in  preaching  up  the  duties 
of  holiness.  Let  all  be  founded  in  union  to  and  commu- 
nion with  Christ ;  all  enforced  by  the  pattern,  love,  right- 
eousness, and  benefits  of  Christ.  Eph.  iv.  v.  vi.  Col.  iii.  v. 
1  Pet.  iii.  iv.  [See  Diction,  art.  Gospel,  and  Sabbath 
Journal.] 

8.  You  have  stated  yourselves  public  witnesses  for 
Jesus  Christ,  who  profess  to  adhere  to,  and  propagate  his 
injured  truths,  and  to  commemorate  with  thankfulness 
the  remarkable  mercies  which  he  has  bestowed  on  our 
Church  and  nation,  and  to  testify  against,  and  mourn 
over  our  own  and  our  father's /(?a7/uZ  backslidings  from 
that  covenanted  work  of  reformation  once  attained  in 
our  land  :  see  that  ye  be  judicious,  upright,  constant,  and 
faithful  in  your  profession.  I  now  approach  death,  hear- 
k2 


120  ADDRESS  TO 

tily  satisfied  wiih  our  excellent  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Form  of  church-government, 
and  cordially  adhering-  to  those  Covenants,  by  which 
our  fathers  solemnly  bound  themselves  and  their  poste- 
rity, to  profess  the  doctrines  and  practice  the  duties 
therein  contained.  I  look  upon  the  Secession  as  indeed 
the  cause  of  God,  but  sadly  mismanaged  and  dishonour- 
ed by  myself  and  others.  Alas!  for  that  pride,  passion, 
selfishness,  and  unconcern  for  the  glory  of  Christ,  and 
spiritual  edification  of  souls,  which  has  so  often  prevail- 
ed !  Alas  !  for  our  want  of  due  meekness,  gentleness, 
holy  zeal,  self-denial,  hearty  grief  for  sin,  compassion 
to  souls  in  immediate  connexion  vsrith  us,  or  left  in  the  es- 
tablished church,  which  became  distinguished  witnesses 
for  Christ.  Alas  !  that  we  did  not  chiefly  strive  to  pray 
better,  preach  better,  and  live  better  than  our  neighbours. 
Study  to  see  every  thing  with  your  own  eyes,  but  never 
indulge  an  itch  after  novelties  :  most  of  those  which  are 
now  esteemed  such,  are  nothing  but  old  errors  which  were 
long  ago  justly  refuted,  varnished  over  with  some  new 
expressions.  Never,  by  your  peevishness,  contentions, 
eagerness  about  worldly  things,  or  the  like,  make  others 
think  lightly  of  the  cause  of  God  among  your  hands.  If  I 
mistake  not,  the  churches  are  entering  into  a  fearful 
cloud  of  apostacy  and  trouble.  But  he  that  endures  to 
the  end  shall  be  saved.  Be  ye  faithful  unto  the  death, 
and  Christ  shall  give  you  a  crown  of  life.  But  if  any 
man  draw  back,  God's  soul  shall  have  no  pleasure  in 
him. 

9.  Always  improve  and  live  on  that  blessed  encourage- 
ment which  is  offered  to  you,  as  Christians  and  ministers. 


stude:xts  of  divinity.  121 

in  the  gospel.  Let  all  your  wants  be  on  Christ.  "  My 
God  shall  supply  all  your  need,  according  to  his  riches 
in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus."  Cast  all  your  cares  on  him, 
for  he  careth  for  you.  Cast  all  your  burdens  on  him,  and 
he  will  sustain  you.  If  your  holy  services,  through  your 
mismanagement,  occasion  your  uncommon  guilt,  his 
blood  deanseth  from  all  sin.  You  have  an  "  Advocate 
with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,  who  is  the 
propitiation  for  your  sins."  If  you  be  often  difficulted 
how  to  act,  he  hath  said,  "  The  meek  will  he  guide  in 
judgment :  the  meek  will  he  teach  his  way.  I  will  in- 
struct thee,  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou  shalt 
go.  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye  set  upon  thee.  I 
will  lead  the  blind  in  a  way  which  they  know  not."  If 
you  |be  much  discouraged  because  of  your  rough  way, 
and  your  want  of  strength,  he  has  said,  "  when  the  poor 
and  needy  seek  water  and  there  is  none,  and  their  tongue 
faileth  for  thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the  God 
of  Israel  will  not  forsake  them.  I  will  open  rivers  in 
high  places.  Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee  :  be  not  dis- 
mayed for  I  am  thy  God.  I  will  strengten  thee  :  Yea, 
I  will  help  thee  :  I  will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand 
of  my  righteousness.  Fear  not,  worm  Jacob,  I  will 
help  thee,  saith  the  Lord  thy  Redeemer.  I  make  thee  a 
new  sharp  thrashing-  instrument,  and  thou  shalt  thrash 
the  mountains.  My  grace  shall  be  sufficient  for  thee : 
for  my  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness.  As  thy 
days  are,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  If  your  troubles  be 
many,  he  hath  said,  "  When  thou  passest  through  the 
waters,  I  will  be  with  thee  ;  the  rivers  shall  not  overflow 


122 

thee :  When  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  thou  shalt 
not  be  burnt,  nor  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee."  If 
your  incomes  be  small  and  pinching,  "  Ye  know  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich, 
yet  for  our  sakes  became  poor,  that  we  through  his  pov- 
erty might  be  rich."  He  shall  see  his  seed,  the  "travail  of 
his  soul,  and  be  satisfied  :"  and  he  has  promised,  "  I  will 
abundantly  bless  her  provision,  and  satisfy  her  poor  with 
bread.  I  will  satiate  the  soul  of  her  priests  with  fatness." 
A  salary  of  remarkable  fellowship  with  Christ,  and  of 
success  in  winning  souls,  is  the  most  delightful  and  en- 
riching. If  your  labours  appear  to  have  little  success,  be 
more  diligent  and  dependent  on  Christ.  "  Never  mourn 
as  they  that  have  no  hope."  Let  not  the  eunuch  say, 
"  I  am  a  dry  tree,"  Jesus  hath  said,  "  I  will  pour  water 
on  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  on  the  dry  ground, 
I  will  pour  my  Spirit  on  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  on 
thine  offspring.  A  seed  shall  serve  him.  The  whole 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  his  glory.  The  kingdoms  of 
this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
his  Christ."  Believe  it  on  the  testimony  of  God  him- 
self: believe  it  on  the  testimony  of  all  his  faithful  ser- 
vants; and,  if  mine  were  of  any  avail,  I  should  add  it, 
That  there  is  no  master  so  kind  as  Christ ;  no  service  so 
pleasant  and  profitable  as  that  of  Christ ;  and  no  reward 
so  full,  satisfying,  and  permanent  as  that  of  Christ.  Let 
us,  therefore,  "  begin  all  things  from  Christ ;  carry  on 
all  things  with  and  through  Christ ;  and  let  all  things 
aim  at  and  end  in  Christ." 


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